A love for Madrid stuck with Rachel since her year abroad in the Spanish capital nine years ago. Little did she know, she’d return to the city she loved and help others discover the city’s pulse as she worked with Context Travel, a scholarly walking tour service that has experts in history, architecture, food, and art history guiding you through the city. With the recent Covid-19 developments, she’s now looking for a new role, but as Rachel says, sometimes the journey is unfolding as it should and you have to see where it goes.

Hi Rachel! Tell us a little about yourself.

I am a linguist, foodie, history buff, and Madridholic. I’m originally from Belfast and I first came to Madrid in 2011 for my year abroad, which was a ton of fun and a huge learning curve. I didn’t realize it at the time but it basically shaped my entire future career trajectory.

I made Madrid my permanent home in 2014, and I’ve spent the past four years enticing visitors to come to Iberia, sourcing and training local experts on the ground to make sure that my culturally curious clients have the best possible experience of Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Porto, Seville, Granada, and most recently, Bilbao.

Tell us about your career path and where you see yourself heading in the future.

My academic background is in Modern Languages. I studied Spanish and French at Cambridge University. I was able to take courses in history, literature and film in addition to grammar and translation, so it felt like a pretty well-rounded humanities degree.

I taught English for my year abroad and immediately after I graduated. Both experiences were great, but I ultimately decided to pursue something other than teaching.

My first graduate job was with a market research company in London. I worked on a lot of projects for big companies that tested out new advertising campaigns and tracked customer brand health. After a year, I found an opportunity at the same department in their Madrid office as a project manager.

I jumped at the chance to return to my beloved Madrid! And working in a Spanish office environment was fantastic for my language skills. After about two years I started to feel ready for a change and began looking for other opportunities.

So how did you end up in the travel industry?

I had always been super enthusiastic about the history of Madrid as well as the current cultural landscape. And I was always the one in my friend group with a finger on the pulse, who took the initiative to go to exhibitions, concerts and other events around the city. That’s why when I found an opportunity to work for guided tour company Context Travel, I couldn’t believe my luck. Context Travel provides scholarly walking tours for curious travellers in over 60 cities worldwide. They connect cities with personable local experts to give them a unique perspective of their city.

I joined as an Associate Program Manager for France and Spain, helped get our Portugal tours off the ground in Lisbon and Porto, and have been the Program Manager for Iberia since 2017.

In terms of what the future holds, the current situation with COVID-19 has been catastrophic for the tourism industry. I’ve just found out I’m being laid off so it’s suddenly back to the drawing board! It is unfortunately unlikely that I’ll be able to find another role in the travel industry for a while yet, so I’m going to be taking some time out to consider my next move. I would love to pursue something I’m very passionate about, since I am so enthusiastic about my current role. I’m considering going back to school or finding roles within academic institutions where I can apply my enthusiasm for learning and my people skills.

What has been the most challenging part of your work?

Whilst I have always been super passionate about my role at Context, one thing I have struggled with is being the only employee who is physically in Spain. I do enjoy the flexibility of remote working and have had plenty of opportunities to travel to other cities to meet colleagues— my boss is in Paris, our HQ is in Philly, we have offices in New York, Rome and Berlin and I’ve been to them all! That said, you cannot travel all the time, and when I am in Madrid working remotely it can get lonely. This is where I’ve found coworking spaces to be super helpful though, it’s a great way to meet people in a similar boat and have co-workers to run ideas off or just hang out with on a daily basis.

What is one piece of advice that you live by?

My high school English teacher introduced me to the poem Desiderata and that has essentially been my words to live by ever since. In particular the lines which say “you are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should”.

What are your favorite coworking spots in Madrid and why?

I spent two happy years at Utopicus Duque de Rivas where I met a lot of lovely people and generally enjoyed the vibe (and the Thursday night Cañus!). They have spaces in both Madrid or Barcelona you can access. I particularly liked the Gran Via one in Madrid and the one in Gracia in Barcelona. It’s my favourite part of Barcelona, and they have a cute little garden where I did an event with my tour guides last year.

When Duque de Rivas closed its doors I decided to shop around and have been working at La Quinta del Sordo since January. It’s a beautiful space dedicated to people working in creative industries and it’s been wonderful to work there. They recently did a series of events for International Women’s Day including an exhibition by female artists and a talk by charitable organisation Imagina Más. They also presented a series of short films about local women which was super inspiring.

La Quinta also has the advantage of being located next to San Francisco el Grande (the Church in la Latina with the Goya Frescoes) so I often go sit in the Church’s rose garden during lunch or when I just want to clear my head.

And last but not least, tell us where we can find you!

I’m currently holed up at my parents’ house in Belfast as I was on vacation when the lockdown was announced, but I hope to return to Madrid as soon as I am able. Now, that I’m job hunting you can find me on Linkedin or Instagram @rachdemadridalcielo.

Falling in Love with Madrid with Rachel